8. Underground

I awaken and sit up right in a profuse sweat. I rub my eyes furiously. Another nightmare, they are getting worse. I look to the clock and it reads 08:22. I rise and put on a fresh uniform, I grab my service pistol and holster and a flashlight. I exit and hitched a ride to the abandoned train station.

Old steam engines and cars litter the tracks like long forgotten machines.This is a relic from the the first war, once a time ago this serviced men and women but now it sits here like a forgotten memory.

I search around the tracks and find an old service hatch. I manage to pry it open and climb down the small ladder. I enter the dark, dank sewer system, it must be at least eight feet from ceiling to ground. The hatch lets light shine through and I make it to the bottom. The smell is so putrid that it makes me hold my nose. A small river of sewage run through in the middle of two walk ways. I turn on my flashlight and look to my acquired maps. As I walk, the rats squeak and scurry. My boots clacking on the stone echos throughout the tunnels. There is a constant sound of water dripping. My flashlight is soon the only light available as I venture further in to the underground. I come to a corner and look to the map and turn left, closer I come to my destination. The rats squeak almost as if warning me. After a long walk my light comes across some thing shining in the distance. Upon closer inspection I find a gated door. This must be the entrance to the catacombs. I notice that there is a padlock on the door. Damn! But then an idea hits me. I pull my colt 1911 from the holster and aim for the lock. I turn my head and pull the trigger. Bang! The sound echos down the tunnels to where it makes my ears ring. The padlock flies off and ricochets of the wall before coming to a stop on the ground. I carefully open the door, the sound of creaking hinges fills the tunnels. This door probably hasn't been opened in God knows how long.

I enter the catacombs and the narrow walkway where slabs of stone have been cut away to house makeshift tombs for the dead. Skeletons lay to the left and right of my as a walk. I step and hear a hard crunch, I look down to reveal I just pulverized what remained of a skull. I consul the map and it shows I come ever near to that fateful house of sin. The walk way widens to were I can fit without almost touching the walls. Bones and skulls litter the ground making the most unpleasant crunching sound as I step.

I continue further now I must be getting close. I see torch light, the flame fills the cavern with a dim and flickering light. I enter a large cavernous opening and determine I must be under the brothel. Maybe I'll find the missing I think as I continue. I see something hanging from the ceiling There I find them! Or rather what is left of them.

There I come across men hanging from meat hooks. Their bodies grotesquely mutilated. They all appear to have had their eyes gouged out and their abdomen eviscerated and its contents removed. There amongst them are tables with various glass jars filed with organs and vile liquid. I am shocked and repulsed to the point of where I almost vomit. But what I saw next truly disturbed me to this day. I saw a man lying naked on the ground, his arms and leg out stretched. His hands and feet pinned to the ground. There he lay on what appears to be a pentagram with candles lit around its circumference. His mouth is agape with his heart in his mouth, and his abdomen eviscerated the same as the others. I am horrified for now I realize I am in the presence of worshipers of the devil. I look and see in the corner is a large black cauldron with something bubbling within. I am horrified but then I feel a sharp blow to the back of the head and everything is black.

I awaken and discover myself to be suspended from the ceiling. I hang by my hands to were my feet do not touch ground. I now realize that my uniform has been removed and I am in only clad in my briefs. I see a figure approach from the from the dimly lit background. An elderly woman in scandalous dress takes shape, her skin sags from her and spots dot her body. "Hello lieutenant, I see you have been snooping were you shouldn't have been." The woman says in an elderly raspy voice. Its the Madam of the house but she is so aged! "What witchcraft is this?" I say angrily. "Immortality my dear lieutenant." she responds. She reveals a jar of bubbling liquid in her hand and drinks it. Instantly her skin tightens and her shriveled body begins to take shape. A beautiful women forms before me.

Im flabbergasted for I have never seen someone reverse their age before. Where she could have been ancient before she now looks to be in her early thirties. She goes to a near by table and draws out a small knife. My eyes are now wide with fear for I know she has sinister intentions. With it she now returns " You know lieutenant I knew you would find this place eventually." she states. With he knife she slashes both of my wrist, I shriek with pain. The dark red blood oozing from my wounds and dripping from my elbow. She comes closer and with her tongue she licks the blood trickling from my arms. She looks to me with sick and twisted eyes. I am repulsed and terrified for what I wonder will become of me, will end up like the other poor souls. Just then there is a disturbance from above us. She stops her unholy deeds and says "Will you excuse me lieutenant. There is a matter that requires my attention."